Getting superheroes to work together sounded wonderful in theory.
In practice...
It was harder than organizing twenty-five veteran raid leaders into a single World of Warcraft raid.
Every one of them was used to being the person everyone else followed.
Every one of them had a strong personality.
None of them accepted orders without questions, and if the answers weren’t satisfactory, they went looking for the truth themselves.
Which was exactly what was happening.
By the time Evenson and Natasha returned from Loki’s cell, raised voices were already echoing from Tony Stark and Bruce Banner’s laboratory.
Evenson paused outside the door.
"...Are they holding auditions for SHIELD Idol?"
He pushed the door open.
Phil Coulson stood quietly against one wall with the expression of a man who knew his pay grade did not include refereeing arguments between superheroes.
Smart man.
"Pretty lively in here," Evenson whispered as he sidled over beside him.
Coulson merely sighed.
"You could say that."
Evenson reached into a pocket and produced a small purple orb.
"Here."
"A little lucky charm."
Coulson accepted it politely.
"...This doesn’t come with a bill later, does it?"
"I’d rather not discover it costs eighty thousand dollars after I put it in my pocket."
"It doesn’t..."
Evenson began automatically.
Then reconsidered.
"...Well."
"Just pay whatever you think it’s worth."
Before Coulson could respond, Tony looked up from a computer terminal.
"Evenson."
"There you are."
Evenson immediately raised both hands.
"I just got here."
"Carry on."
Captain America turned toward him.
"No."
"You’ve got some explaining to do."
Evenson blinked.
How did this become my problem?
Tony silently rotated the monitor.
Displayed across the screen was the complete Phase Two project file.
One line stood out.
Project Consultant: Evenson Richter
Evenson glanced toward Fury.
"You really need to invest in a better firewall."
Then he looked back at Tony.
"What exactly would you like me to explain?"
Bruce Banner answered before Tony could.
"You knew."
"You knew SHIELD intended to weaponize the Tesseract."
"And you still supported the project."
"Supported it?"
Evenson chuckled.
"Do you honestly believe the project needed my approval to exist?"
He shook his head.
"It was authorized by the World Security Council."
"SHIELD was simply responsible for carrying it out."
He pointed at Tony.
"Was he going to stop it?"
Then Captain America.
"Or the national hero who spent seventy years frozen in the Arctic?"
His gaze shifted toward Banner and Thor.
"You two might be capable of disrupting it."
"But if you tried..."
"You’d only convince the Council the project was even more necessary."
He pulled out a chair and sat down.
"If something can’t be stopped..."
"The next best option is making sure it’s done responsibly."
"So I joined the project."
"That way I could minimize the damage caused by people who understand the Tesseract far less than I do."
He shrugged.
"And honestly?"
"I don’t even think the project itself is unreasonable."
"After watching Earth’s military get utterly outclassed by the Destroyer..."
"If the World Security Council had decided not to prepare for the next alien invasion..."
"I’d question whether they deserved to be in office."
Tony folded his arms.
"Or maybe..."
"You just wanted Fury to increase your paycheck."
Evenson blinked.
Then slapped his forehead.
"...I completely forgot."
"I really should have negotiated hazard pay."
At that very moment, Clint Barton’s aircraft entered the Helicarrier’s airspace.
The onboard communications system crackled.
"Your flight isn’t listed in today’s schedule."
"State your cargo."
Barton calmly lifted his compound bow.
"Ammunition."
Around him, the strike team began loading weapons and checking gear.
He glanced toward the mysterious woman who had joined them.
"Want to make a bet?"
"My bow..."
"Or your rifle."
"Which fires first?"
The woman answered without looking at him.
"That..."
"...will be the last mistake you ever make."
An uncomfortable silence filled the cabin.
The commandos froze.
None of them understood why.
But every instinct they possessed suddenly whispered the same thing.
We’re all going to die.
The rear ramp opened.
Wind howled through the aircraft.
Barton selected a single arrow.
He judged the wind.
Calculated the distance.
Drew the string to its limit.
His accuracy had never depended on luck.
He released.
The arrow shot toward the Helicarrier.
At that exact instant, the woman dissolved.
Her body became a cloud of black smoke that wrapped itself around the arrow in flight.
Just before impact...
The darkness condensed back into human form.
A grappling hook shot from her left hand.
It caught the edge of the Helicarrier’s deck.
The cable reeled in.
She flew across the gap.
Landing in high-heeled combat boots, she immediately accelerated.
At that altitude.
In thin air.
She ran faster than any Olympic sprinter could dream of matching.
Moments later she vanished into an air vent.
Back inside the laboratory, the argument showed no signs of ending.
Everyone’s attention had gradually shifted toward Bruce Banner.
Only Evenson quietly drifted away from the center of the room.
A faint smile crossed his face.
Someone had just arrived.
Peggy Carter noticed him moving.
She followed.
Her expression was troubled.
"Doesn’t this seem strange?"
"The argument."
"It isn’t accomplishing anything."
"They keep circling the same points."
"They could settle this in minutes."
"So why can’t they stop?"
Evenson lowered his voice.
"Look at the scepter."
Loki’s scepter rested in Banner’s hand while the scientist continued explaining his reasoning to everyone else.
Peggy barely listened.
She lowered her sunglasses out of habit.
Ghost Sight opened.
The world shifted.
Blue ripples radiated endlessly from the scepter.
Invisible.
Subtle.
Influencing every person in the room.
Everyone...
Except her.
And Evenson.
She drew a slow breath.
"Everyone..."
Before she could finish warning the others, one of Banner’s instruments erupted with alarms.
Banner immediately set the scepter down and hurried toward the console.
The instant the weapon touched the table...
The blue waves vanished.
Peggy hesitated.
The Tesseract was more important.
She swallowed the warning.
Banner stared at the monitor.
"Oh..."
"My God."
His face drained of color.
Before anyone could ask what he’d found...
The Helicarrier exploded.
A violent shockwave tore through the room.
The heroes were hurled in every direction.
Ironically, the one person who had deliberately moved away from everyone else fared worst.
The explosion erupted from the exact section of the room Evenson had retreated toward.
He disappeared beneath smoke, debris, and twisted metal.
Several seconds later...
A soot-covered hand emerged.
Evenson climbed to his feet, coughing.
His face was black with ash.
He looked around at the burning compartment.
"...Seriously?"
He brushed dust from his coat.
Then bellowed at the top of his lungs.
"Rip them apart!"
Elsewhere aboard the Helicarrier, Taylor and the others instantly sprang into action the moment they heard the order.
The battle for the Helicarrier had begun.
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